Japanese battleship Nagato

Nagato on her sea trials, 30 September 1920
History
Japan
Name	Nagato
Namesake	Nagato Province
Builder	Kure Naval Arsenal
Laid down	28 August 1917
Launched	9 November 1919
Sponsored by	Admiral Katō Tomosaburō
Completed	15 November 1920
Commissioned	25 November 1920
Stricken	15 September 1945
Fate	Sunk as a target in Operation Crossroads, 29/30 July 1946
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Nagato-class battleship
Displacement	32,720 t (32,200 long tons) (standard)
Length	215.8 m (708 ft)
Beam	29.02 m (95 ft 3 in)
Draft	9.08 m (29 ft 9 in)
Installed power	21 × water-tube boilers 80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 × steam turbines
Speed	26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph)
Range	5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	1,333
Armament	4 × twin 41 cm (16 in) guns 20 × single 14 cm (5.5 in) guns 4 × single 76 mm (3 in) AA guns 8 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 100–305 mm (3.9–12.0 in) Deck: 69 mm (2.7 in) + 75 mm (3 in) Gun turrets: 190–356 mm (7.5–14.0 in) Barbettes: 305 mm (12 in) Conning tower: 369 mm (14.5 in)
General characteristics (1944)
Displacement	39,130 t (38,510 long tons) (standard)
Length	224.94 m (738 ft)
Beam	34.6 m (113 ft 6 in)
Draft	9.49 m (31 ft 2 in)
Installed power	80,000 shp (60,000 kW) 10 × water-tube boilers
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range	8,650 nmi (16,020 km; 9,950 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	1,734
Sensors and processing systems	1 × Type 21 air search radar 2 × Type 13 early-warning radars 2 × Type 22 surface-search radars
Armament	4 × twin 41 cm guns 18 × single 14 cm guns 4 × twin 127 mm (5 in) DP guns 98 × 25 mm (1 in) AA guns
Armor	Deck: 69 mm (2.7 in) + 100 mm (3.9 in) + 38 mm (1.5 in) Turrets: 280–460 mm (11.0–18.1 in) Barbettes: 457 mm (18.0 in)
Aircraft carried	3 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult

Nagato (長門), named for Nagato Province, was a super-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Completed in 1920 as the lead ship of her class, she carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. The ship was modernized in 1934–1936 with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Nagato briefly participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and was the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the attack on Pearl Harbor. She covered the withdrawal of the attacking ships and did not participate in the attack itself.

Other than participating in the Battle of Midway in June 1942, where she did not see combat, the ship spent most of the first two years of the Pacific War training in home waters. She was transferred to Truk in mid-1943, but did not see any combat until the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-1944 when she was attacked by American aircraft. Nagato did not fire her main armament against enemy vessels until the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October. She was lightly damaged during the battle and returned to Japan the following month. The IJN was running out of fuel by this time and decided not to fully repair her. Nagato was converted into a floating anti-aircraft platform and assigned to coastal defense duties. She was attacked in July 1945 as part of the American campaign to destroy the IJN's last remaining capital ships, but was only slightly damaged and went on to be the only Japanese battleship to have survived World War II. In mid-1946, the ship was a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second.